Any Suggestions?

[Mountain Res-Q]

I am the newely elected Medical Team Leader for my counties SAR Team. We like to run training drills now and again; ropes, search, swiftwater, dive, etc... Whenever we do so we are expected to run a full medical drill on the pateint as well (great practice for the newbies). The next drill is next month. The Rope Rescue Team Leader is going to run some type of low angle rope rescue call to get the newbies involved. She would like me to organize some type of medical assessment and training that the newbies will do (mostly First Aiders and some Ski Patrolers and First Responders) She is keeping the details of the rescue scenerio under wraps, but wants me to come up with some good injuries that need addressing. We will be "rescueing" several people. Any suggestions on cool injuries and complications I should throw at them?

 

[mikie]

Having just come back from a search & rescue class 'trip''(i'm a student) a scenario they gave us the pt (has moulage so it looked 'real') had raccoon eyes & battle signs to see if anyone would recognize basal skull fracture and choosing the appropriate airway adjunct if they can't tolerate an OPA.

 

[Mountain Res-Q]

Having just come back from a search & rescue class 'trip''(i'm a student) a scenario they gave us the pt (has moulage so it looked 'real') had raccoon eyes & battle signs to see if anyone would recognize basal skull fracture and choosing the appropriate airway adjunct if they can't tolerate an OPA.

Please say that no one tried to insert the airways in a fake patient! Although, my old instructor wouls spray a lido0type spray on a NPA and self insert it to shw us how it would look on a real patient. Great guy... kinda wierd. THANX for the input, don;t know if we will be able to moulage our patients (civilian volunteers) on our budget, but nice idea.

 

[LucidResq]

Instead of aiming for cool, weird injuries I'd advise having ones that are commonly seen especially for newbies. I wish that you could have some details of the rescue scenario. If you're playing around in rocks - head injuries, fracture of the radius (Colles' or Smith's - falling on an outstretched hand), tib/fib.

Sometimes it's good to sneak in an underlying medical problem that causes the trauma to see if they're being thorough. Have your pt fall or injure themselves due to a syncopal episode, seizure, stroke, etc.

I don't know about you, but out here we see a considerable amount of gun/knife/bow injuries... lots of suicide too.

 

[Sasha]

Have your pt fall or injure themselves due to a syncopal episode, seizure, stroke, etc.

Or some diabetic emergency like DKA and see if they zoom in on alcohol. Those scenarios always tickled me so.

 

[Mountain Res-Q]

Or some diabetic emergency like DKA and see if they zoom in on alcohol. Those scenarios always tickled me so.

You don't know our team. DKA may present as alcohol to the untrained. But alcohol injected by our team presents as just another day at the office.

Just kidding. No need to get up in arms. We do all our drinking after the call. Usually... :blush: Thanx for the thought. We were gonna use kids as victims... but in my redneck county kids and alcohol could be a viable training option.

 

[mycrofft]

Keep it simple but exacting.

If you want "interesting", have your pt seize near the top...but safety first.

 

[Mountain Res-Q]

Instead of aiming for cool, weird injuries I'd advise having ones that are commonly seen especially for newbies. I wish that you could have some details of the rescue scenario. If you're playing around in rocks - head injuries, fracture of the radius (Colles' or Smith's - falling on an outstretched hand), tib/fib.

Sometimes it's good to sneak in an underlying medical problem that causes the trauma to see if they're being thorough. Have your pt fall or injure themselves due to a syncopal episode, seizure, stroke, etc.

I don't know about you, but out here we see a considerable amount of gun/knife/bow injuries... lots of suicide too.

SAR is CO. Nice. How long you been doing it?

Thanx for the thoughts. Yes, for teh newbies it is nice to train on common things, but I want to throw some complications at them, especially a couple of new people who call themselves EMT's but don't show much skill. We don;t see that many gun/knife/bow injuries, just missing hunters that cant find the road/camp, much less a deer. Suicides? Yep. Why is it everyone wants to reach the middle of beautiful nowhere before offing themselves. Just makes our job harder. We had a call last year where a guy tried to fry himself by dropping a toaster into the bath. It fliped the circuit and didn't do a thign to him. So he leaves home, walks toward high-voltage lines near his house, climbs a tree to fry himself good, and ends up slipping and breaking his neck. Was missing for 2 weeks, and a good searching, before the summer heat picked up and some berry pickers found him. Bad deal.

The basic scenerio, as I understand it, is taht we are going to some moderatel steep terrain (not completely high angle) where we will have 2 or more victims at the bottom of the embankment. At least one might be a child. I would like to do some c-spine maybe or fractures with some ALOC. No suicides are planned though. I like the seizures, etc... Maybe....

 

[Mountain Res-Q]

Or some diabetic emergency like DKA and see if they zoom in on alcohol. Those scenarios always tickled me so.

The one that always gets me for EMT & FR students that I help proctor from time to time is the classic medical assessment: 30 year old female complaining of shortness of shortness of breath with visible difficulties. If the students ask all he right questions and properly asess, they find out that she is on oral birth control and a chain smoker who just got back from a long flight from Tokyo. It lways fun to see who was listeneing and putting 1 and 2 together. but I don;t think that will work too well for a SAR call being run by First Aiders and Ski Patrollers.

 

[LucidResq]

SAR is CO. Nice. How long you been doing it?

Thanx for the thoughts. Yes, for teh newbies it is nice to train on common things, but I want to throw some complications at them, especially a couple of new people who call themselves EMT's but don't show much skill. We don;t see that many gun/knife/bow injuries, just missing hunters that cant find the road/camp, much less a deer. Suicides? Yep. Why is it everyone wants to reach the middle of beautiful nowhere before offing themselves. Just makes our job harder. We had a call last year where a guy tried to fry himself by dropping a toaster into the bath. It fliped the circuit and didn't do a thign to him. So he leaves home, walks toward high-voltage lines near his house, climbs a tree to fry himself good, and ends up slipping and breaking his neck. Was missing for 2 weeks, and a good searching, before the summer heat picked up and some berry pickers found him. Bad deal.

The basic scenerio, as I understand it, is taht we are going to some moderatel steep terrain (not completely high angle) where we will have 2 or more victims at the bottom of the embankment. At least one might be a child. I would like to do some c-spine maybe or fractures with some ALOC. No suicides are planned though. I like the seizures, etc... Maybe....

I've been doing it for 2 years almost to the day. Was the Lt. of training and ops and EMS officer for a while so I did a lot of the scenario planning.

That suicide story is nuts. Poor berry pickers. Berry pickers and hunters always seem to find things that they probably would rather not... ie bodies.

Good luck and enjoy your training.

 

[NEMed2]

I always enjoyed tossing in a "distracting patient" like a hysterical patient or someone that seems uninjured but should be assessed anyway. In your situation, maybe someone that also went down the embankment but managed to get out. Just because they were the one who got out & altered EMS doesn't mean that they shouldn't be assessed.

 

[Mountain Res-Q]

I always enjoyed tossing in a "distracting patient" like a hysterical patient or someone that seems uninjured but should be assessed anyway. In your situation, maybe someone that also went down the embankment but managed to get out. Just because they were the one who got out & altered EMS doesn't mean that they shouldn't be assessed.

We altually held a Rope Rescue drill with the local Fire Departments 1 1/2 years ago. I volunteered to be the patient and was told by the Battalion Chief to "make it hard on them." All the other patients were FF's who allowed themselves to be assesed and evacuated. I decided that just wan't fun. ^_^ So, I tookon the role of the drunk that was driving teh car that went over teh embankment. Medically, I was fine, but I REALLY acted the part. Somtimes confused... talkative... in your face... wandering... nice drunk... mean drunk... Confused the hell out of the FF's because they didn't know what to do with me. The key is that I will need the victims in this drill to really play whatever role they are given and make it a little difficult... like it often is in real life.

 

[Mountain Res-Q]

I've been doing it for 2 years almost to the day. Was the Lt. of training and ops and EMS officer for a while so I did a lot of the scenario planning.

That suicide story is nuts. Poor berry pickers. Berry pickers and hunters always seem to find things that they probably would rather not... ie bodies.

Good luck and enjoy your training.

3 years on SAR as of this May. Elected Team Leader in January and Canine Team Leader by default this last month becasue I have the only dog (she is only 5 months old and won't be trained and certified for at least 18-24 months from now).

The suicide calls we get are really nuts. For a county of 60,000 we have some of the highest suicide rate in the state. I've actually been on as many recoverys as rescues in my 3 years. Kinda sucks, but it's the gig.

The training ain't for another 4 weeks. I will post on this thread when we do it just to let ya all know that your suggestions were appreciated. If I take my camera, I will even through some photos up on my profile.

 

[NEMed2]

We altually held a Rope Rescue drill with the local Fire Departments 1 1/2 years ago. I volunteered to be the patient and was told by the Battalion Chief to "make it hard on them." All the other patients were FF's who allowed themselves to be assesed and evacuated. I decided that just wan't fun. ^_^ So, I tookon the role of the drunk that was driving teh car that went over teh embankment. Medically, I was fine, but I REALLY acted the part. Somtimes confused... talkative... in your face... wandering... nice drunk... mean drunk... Confused the hell out of the FF's because they didn't know what to do with me. The key is that I will need the victims in this drill to really play whatever role they are given and make it a little difficult... like it often is in real life.

I enjoyed being the hysterical little kid (ahem) 'back in the day' when I was too young to be in the FD. Providers have to learn how to deal with crying hysterical kids to treat them. That goes for drunks and psychs as well.

 

[LucidResq]

I enjoyed being the hysterical little kid (ahem) 'back in the day' when I was too young to be in the FD. Providers have to learn how to deal with crying hysterical kids to treat them. That goes for drunks and psychs as well.

For a tomboy, I play a shockingly good wasted sorority girl. Try assessing a pt with me drunkenly hitting on you and dancing and stealing your radio. I once bruised my forehead a bit falling face first into a pram during a scenario. They learned to pay better attention to bystanders.

 

[skivail]

I'd focus on triage and trasnport decisions. In techinical rescue where rescue and evac may take extended periods of time triage is key and often overlookd in training.

 

[Mountain Res-Q]

I'd focus on triage and trasnport decisions. In techinical rescue where rescue and evac may take extended periods of time triage is key and often overlookd in training.

Nice. I'd definetly love to test some of the new FF's and EMT's on this. Agreed, Triage is often not focused on in training.

 

[VFFforpeople]

I would put some a Cushing's Triad type of Pt. I would also do mid thigh with tib or fib fx. CSF coming out of the ear, and if you wanted to go all out for any sistuation put an OB in there as well, to get them thinking about it. Girl could only be 8-15weeks or whatever you wanted. maybe some diabetic,and allergic reaction or bite by something. I hope this helps, goodluck with your training.

 

[Mountain Res-Q]

I would put some a Cushing's Triad type of Pt. I would also do mid thigh with tib or fib fx. CSF coming out of the ear, and if you wanted to go all out for any sistuation put an OB in there as well, to get them thinking about it. Girl could only be 8-15weeks or whatever you wanted. maybe some diabetic,and allergic reaction or bite by something. I hope this helps, goodluck with your training.

I'll run it by the person setting up the rescue portion. I'd love to do the OB stuff just to see how they react, but I think the Techncial Rescue Team Leader my not want me to take over what is going to be 80% rescue and 20% medical. The last think the IC needs to here topside is, "We've got 8 immediates and 0 delayed!"

However, all suggestions give here will be copied, pasted, and presented to the Technical Team Leader to see how out there she want's to make it. or maybe I could just throw all teh suggeestions into one patient. She a drunk 8 year old about to give birth, experienceing siezers, with a history of strokes and diabetes, and she has a open femur fracture! AHHHHH!!!

 

[fma08]

spinal fracture/neurogenic shock, I always liked that one B)